


A Spy, a Soldier, and a Quiet Christmas

by coffeebean87



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 13:20:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9183430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeebean87/pseuds/coffeebean87
Summary: Bucky and Natasha get some time off to enjoy Christmas together and find that the best gift they have is each other.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [taralkariel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taralkariel/gifts).



Natasha Romanoff woke up to the smell of coffee and the sight of falling snow outside. She checked the calendar. It was December 23, the day before Christmas Eve. It also happened to be the first of a few days where she and her fiancé and fellow Avenger, James Barnes, also known as Bucky and the Winter Soldier, would get some time to themselves off the field. Natasha had to admit that it was a bit boring and unnerving to have nothing much to do for a few days, but Fury and the other Avengers had insisted that she and Bucky enjoy Christmas together.

She walked into the kitchen and sure enough, James was in there pouring two cups of coffee. “Morning, James,” Natasha said as she sat down at the kitchen table.

“Morning, Natalia,” he responded as he came to the table with the two cups of coffee. Natasha sniffed the coffee inside her mug and said, “Dark roast, my favorite!” she exclaimed.

“Anything for the light of my life,” he said. “Would you like cream and sugar with it?”

“Yes, thank you,” she said as he retrieved some cream from the refrigerator and some sugar from the counter. Natasha added the two to her coffee first then handed them to James.

“So what would you like to do with our time off?” James asked. “We could watch a movie, go out to lunch, you name it.”

“Well,” Natasha said, “I think today I might like to make some Christmas cookies. Cooper and Lila, Clint’s kids you know, they showed me how to do it last Christmas. Besides, I know how much you love sweet stuff. I think it might be something you would enjoy doing for your first 21st century Christmas.”

James smiled and replied, “I would love to do that.”

Natasha reached inside the pantry and pulled out a box of sugar cookie mix, some flour, and some cookie cutters. James retrieved some milk and eggs from the refrigerator as well as a rolling pin from one of the cabinet drawers. They followed the instructions on the box, and in no time at all the dough was ready to be rolled out. James pulled the dough out of the mixing bowl and covered it with flour. He tried hard to ensure that every inch of the dough was covered with flour. Natasha looked at him and said, “You seem to do well in the kitchen.”

James shrugged and said, “Well, when you have three younger siblings, knowing how to cook does become a necessity. I just remembered a day when both of my parents were sick. Becca, the oldest of my three siblings, and I had to cook dinner for everyone. We ended up almost burning the bread we were baking, but thankfully we didn’t. I suppose we just found that we enjoyed doing it. We kept trying out different recipes over and over again until we perfected them.” He smiled a rather wistful smile. “You seem to have a bit of a knack for it too.”

“Well, I never had much of a chance to learn this sort of thing when I was working for the Red Room, but after I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. a few of the other agents gave me lessons,” Natasha said. “I wasn’t that great to start out with, but I got better. Sometimes cooking does have a bit of a therapeutic effect on me if I’m stressed or remembering too much about my life in the Red Room.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” James replied. “Want to roll out the dough?”

“Sure,” Natasha said, taking the rolling pin and covering it with flour. She then proceeded to flatten the cookie dough. It was not long before the dough was ready to be cut into Santas, snowmen, angels, and Christmas trees. She and James cut out a number of cookies and placed them on a nearby cookie sheet. They were ready to be removed from the oven in about ten minutes.

James removed the cookies from the oven, and he and Natasha placed them on some wax paper to cool. They then placed another batch of cookies in the oven. While they waited for the next batch to get ready, James looked at Natasha and said, “So what do you want to do for Christmas Eve tomorrow night?”

“Well, it is going to be just you and me, so I suppose we could prepare a small dinner and watch a movie,” Natasha replied.

James nodded and said, “We can go to the store today and buy everything we’ll need. I just hope there will be a store that will still have turkeys.”

Natasha gave him a playful nudge and said, “I’ll be happy with whatever we can find.”

After they removed the second batch of cookies from the oven, Natasha and James went out to buy their Christmas Eve dinner. They managed to find a turkey breast that was big enough to last a couple of days at a small grocery store. They selected some small potatoes and some mixed vegetables to go with it.

After arriving back at the small apartment where they would be spending Christmas together, Natasha and James put their groceries away. James examined the cookies and said, “I think they may be about ready to be frosted.”

Natasha retrieved some icing and frosting from the refrigerator, and together she and James began to decorate the cookies together. They made scarves around the snowmen’s necks, made thick white beards on the Santas, etched halos onto the angels, and spread green frosting onto the Christmas trees. James and Natasha each sampled a Christmas cookie after they finished.

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve had anything this good in a while,” James remarked.

“Me neither,” Natasha replied.

They each proceeded to take a couple more cookies, but then looked at each other. “James, I think we should save the rest for tomorrow night.”

“I agree,” James said. “We’ll save them for tomorrow.”

They put the cookies away and then went to bed. Both of them settled to sleep much quicker than usual. James figured that it was because he knew he had much to look forward to the next day. Shortly after his memories of his life before and during his time as the Winter Soldier had returned, he usually had restless nights where the ghosts of his past would frequently come to haunt in. It was quite difficult to have a peaceful night’s rest when painful memories kept resurfacing in the form of nightmares. However, as time went on, his nights became progressively more restful. They especially became more restful after Natasha reentered his life. Somehow he knew that tonight, though, he would sleep well.

Natasha too felt that the ease she felt when she went to sleep was because of all that she and James had to look forward to. After S.H.I.E.L.D. had first brought her in, nightmares were a frequent occurrence for her. As time went on, though, the nightmares became less frequent. When she and James had reunited, Natasha could not help but notice that the nightmares subsided even more. She knew she would sleep well that night with all that she had to look forward to the next day.

On Christmas Eve, after a peaceful night’s rest, Natasha and James woke up again to the sight of falling snow. They walked over to the window of their apartment and looked down at the street below them. It was already crowded with New Yorkers doing last-minute Christmas shopping and making sure they had everything ready for the evening. Natasha and Bucky smiled at one another, knowing that they had everything ready for their quiet Christmas together.

“I’ll make the coffee this morning,” Natasha said.

“Okay, but can I make breakfast?” James asked.

“Only if you promise not to burn it,” Natasha replied, with a playful smile on her face.

“I promise you that I won’t,” James said, before giving her a kiss on the forehead.

Natasha prepared the coffee while James prepared a small breakfast of bacon and eggs. As soon as everything was ready, Natasha poured a cup of coffee for herself and for James. James prepared a plate of food for each of them. After they finished breakfast, James got up from the table and said, “I have a surprise for you.”

“That’s funny. I have a surprise for you too,” Natasha responded as she stood up from the table.

James thought for a moment and asked, “Would you like to receive yours first or would you rather go ahead and give me mine?”

“I think I’ll take mine first,” Natasha said, wondering what it could be.

James pulled out a white box with a red ribbon tied on it from a closet. Natasha opened it to find an emerald green sweater with a reindeer stitched on it. “I thought the green would bring out the color of your eyes,” James said with a shrug.

Natasha looked at it and said, “I love it James. Thank you so much.” She then proceeded to give him a kiss on the cheek and put on the sweater.

Natasha then took a white box with a green ribbon tied on it from underneath the small Christmas tree in the living room. James opened it and pulled out a red sweater with a Santa Claus face stitched onto it. “I suppose I must have guessed that you would give me a green sweater, so I bought you a red one to go with it,” Natasha said.

“It’s wonderful. I love it. Thank you Natasha,” he said, also proceeding to give her a kiss on the cheek.

James thought for a moment and said, “Well, we have a little bit of time before we need to get Christmas started. Would you like to watch a Christmas movie?”

“Sure,” Natasha replied. “Which one would you like to watch?”

“I don’t know. It’s been a while since I really celebrated Christmas. You pick,” James said.

Natasha reached into the box of Christmas movies and pulled out the perennial Christmas favorite, It’s A Wonderful Life. In a way, she knew that she and James would be able to relate to this movie. She placed the movie in the DVD player, and she and James watched the unforgettable story of George Bailey coming to realize just how much of a difference he had made in the lives of the people of Bedford Falls. Natasha could not help but wipe a small tear from her face, and she noticed that James seemed to be doing the same.

“Are you all right, Nat?” James asked.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Natasha replied. “I’ve never told anyone this, but I always get a little emotional whenever I watch this movie. I suppose it’s because it makes me realize just how much good any person can do. You know I’ve got so much red in my ledger, so it’s hard sometimes for me to believe that I have done much good when I’ve done so many awful things. I guess this movie reminds me that perhaps I have done some good for the world. What about you? You seem to be getting emotional yourself.”

“I guess it’s for the same reasons as you,” James said. “I too have a hard time believing that I really have done much good for the world. But when I look at my relationship with you and the friendships I have with the rest of the team, I start to think that maybe I have done some good in the world.” 

They put their arms around each other. Given how much red Natasha and James each had in their ledgers, it was sometimes difficult for them to realize just how much good they had done for their fellow Avengers and for the rest of the world. The terrible things they had done while under the influence of both the Red Room and H.Y.D.R.A. would always be with them. However, as the other Avengers always said to them, who they were back then was not who they were now.

As soon as It’s A Wonderful Life was over, Natasha and James turned their attention toward preparing the turkey for Christmas Eve dinner. They dressed the turkey, seasoned it, and placed it in the oven. In a few hours it would be ready. 

As the turkey, James asked Natasha, “Have you ever read The Night Before Christmas?”

“Yes, I am familiar with that story, but it has been a while since I last read it,” Natasha said. “Why do you ask?”

“My dad always used to read that story at our family Christamases,” James said. “I thought I might carry on the tradition, if you’d like.”

“I would love to,” said Natasha.

They reached into their closet to discover a box of Christmas books and a copy of The Night Before Christmas. James grabbed the book from the box. He and Natasha then moved to the couch and began to read the timeless story of the father who had an encounter with Saint Nicholas one magical Christmas. It was also a joy to read the parts about the sleigh with the eight reindeer and Saint Nicholas touching his nose to get up the chimney, knowing that those Christmas traditions started with that story.

James closed the book and said, “My sister Becca would always beg Dad to read this story every Christmas. She would always sit next to him when he did it. I guess this story does remind me of her.”

Natasha noticed the apparent sadness in James’s eyes and said, “It must be hard, with all the time that’s passed.”

James nodded and said, “Yeah, I do miss my parents. Though, I did find out from Steve that Becca was still living in Brooklyn, at an assisted living center. I have gone to see her a few times. Her memory’s going, but at least she remembered me. I guess it helps in some ways that I look almost exactly like I did all those years ago.”

Natasha put her arms around him and said, a little sadly, “I guess you’re lucky that you still have some family. I was taken to the Red Room when I was very young, so I barely remember my real parents. I suppose I can tell you that there are times when I wish that I had better memories of them.”

“Well, at least we have each other,” James said, giving her a side hug and a kiss on the cheek. “And we have the team as well. I guess family is what you make it to be.”

“Yes it is,” Natasha said, giving him a hug back.

Soon, it was time to get the rest of dinner ready. Natasha and James removed the turkey from the oven and proceeded to cook the vegetables and the potatoes. James handled the potatoes while Natasha handled the vegetables. In no time at all, they had a Christmas feast prepared. James lit two candles on the table while Natasha put out silverware. They then sat down together and enjoyed their Christmas feast.

James took a few bites of his food and then put his fork down. He looked at Natasha and said, “I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a Christmas as nice as this one since before the war. I think just being able to spend Christmas with you is one of the best gifts I’ve received.”

“I know what you mean,” Natasha said. “Seeing you under H.Y.D.R.A.’s complete control and the team split up were especially difficult for me. It’s been a wonderful gift for me to have you back.”

“I know. Steve’s told me that while he and Stark aren’t quite friends again, they at least have started talking again. I just hope that they can work out their differences soon,” James said.

“I know they will, and we will be there with them,” Natasha said. She knew that Rogers and Stark did not always see eye to eye on things, but they had always learned, time and time again, that they worked better together than they did separately. While she did know that this particular rift between them carried some deep personal hurt on both sides, she did not doubt that the two would eventually mend fences. She and James would be there to support their friends of course.

Natasha and James finished dinner and then prepared a plate of Christmas cookies. They took it to the coffee table and put in The Muppet Christmas Carol. They munched on their cookies as they listened to Kermit the Frog and his friends singing “One More Sleep Til Christmas,” knowing that they too only had one more night of sleep before it was Christmas Day. As soon as the movie was over, they both settled in bed for their final sleep before Christmas Morning.

The next morning, it was still snowing outside. When James opened his eyes, he could see Natasha’s beautiful eyes staring into his. He smiled and said, “Merry Christmas Natasha.”

“Merry Christmas James,” she replied.

They got out of bed and had breakfast. As soon as they finished, they agreed that they would spend Christmas Day simply relaxing and watching Christmas movies. After watching a marathon of such Christmas classics as White Christmas, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and The Holiday, they ordered Chinese takeout. They tipped the young man who delivered their food a substantial amount of money, knowing that he was staying busy most of the day. They ended their day looking forward to a peaceful night’s rest.

James looked at Natasha as she went to sleep. He knew that the next day they would be back in the field again, working hard to keep the world safe. However, he could rest peacefully knowing that she would be by his side. As this Christmas reminded him, having her by his side was one of the best Christmas gifts he had ever received and likely would ever receive.

Natasha checked to see if James was asleep and glanced at him. She knew that the next day the two of them would be once again doing their part to keep the world safe. But, so long as he was with her, she knew she could rest peacefully. This Christmas reminded her that one of the greatest gifts she had received was having him in her life. So long as he was around, it probably would be the best gift she would ever receive.


End file.
